Can I Be Your Memory?
by KitsuneButterfly
Summary: Alucard makes an early return and Integra has lost most, if not all, of her memories due to a car crash. Can Alucard help Integra remember? Spawned from leaving Sugarcult's "Memory" and Jay Sean's "Do You Remember" on repeat for a leeetle too long.
1. Chapter 1

Alucard sighed as another soul faded from this odd realm that he now called his prison. Stuck here for who knew how long, killing soul after soul. What he was searching for, he didn't know; the goal in all of this had yet to make itself known. All he knew was that he had to keep killing if he wanted to achieve anything in this godforsaken realm. With nothing but his own strength to aid him, this was a mighty task.

During the lull between opponents, Alucard took these moments to reflect on things. Any things, really. Previous battles, betrayal, capture, his master, his fledgling… all were fair game for thought in those moments of peace. But during this particular lull, something decidedly odd began to happen—odder than most things he'd seen in this nowhere realm, and that was certainly saying something.

The air (or rather, what Alucard presumed was air) several yards away seemed to shiver, as it does to human eyes in the heat. Slowly, something began to extricate itself from the air, clawing its way through and into Alucard's realm. This something was medium-sized and definitely lupine. Its white body was crossed with scars and most interestingly, a large metal cross was embedded into the animal's chest. Once it had freed itself and given its whole body a shake as if to rid itself of the feeling of the portal, it fixed its crimson gaze on Alucard and strode purposefully toward him.

Curious, Alucard did not attack this creature. He knew it was not one of his souls and didn't mean him harm. As the wolf stopped only feet from him, Alucard noticed that it carried something in its mouth, and that something bore a great resemblance to one of his guns. The animal set the gun down and turned, slowly fading away as it strode back to the spot it had appeared on. Intrigued, Alucard picked up the weapon. While it looked much like his Casull, it definitely was not the same gun. It was smaller and inscribed on the side were the words 'Danger:Crossing'. Was that what this gun was called? Crossing? As Alucard turned the gun to see the other side, he noticed that a note was attached. It read, in simple handwriting, 'She needs you.'

Who 'she' was and why she needed him, Alucard didn't know, but he had to admit, he was thankful for the gun. As he noticed when another soul appeared not seconds after he had finished reading the note, this thing killed the souls with ease. He also later learned that the bullets automatically replenished themselves, and this new discovery made him grin with wicked delight. He didn't have to worry about wasting bullets if he got to a particularly stubborn soul.

With this new gun, things went a lot smoother and quicker. It didn't feel like long (though it had to be, given the sheer number of souls he had consumed) before stood, staring down that infernal catboy. Grinning a feral grin, he raised the gun at the boy's head and pulled the trigger. He was rewarded with a gush of blood that quickly faded along with the body. After the catboy's body faded, Alucard found himself warped to another place in the nowhere land. Before him stood none other than himself, which Alucard found curious indeed before the world went black.

Sir Integra Hellsing was driving. Thunder boomed overhead and lightning lit up the dark sky. Strong winds and heavy rains pelted her small car as she drove back to the restored Hellsing manor after a particularly boring meeting. As she rounded a bend in the road, her tires lost their purchase on the slippery surface and her car went skidding across the road. Integra was barely aware as her car was tossed into barriers and finally came to a screeching halt when it flipped and hit a tree.

As Integra's vision began to fade to black, she vaguely wondered if this was what it felt like to die. Minutes after the crash, Seras Victoria was on the scene, alerted to Integra's predicament by the steady buzz of Integra's thoughts (muted by Seras for both her own convenience and so as not to Intrude on the personal matters of Sir Integra's mind) suddenly fading into silence and the seals inscribed into her gloves not long after the war with Millennium flashing brightly. She had immediately dropped the novel she had been reading and teleported to Integra's location. Now all she had to do was wait for emergency services, which she had called upon arriving at the crash site.

Two days later, Seras sat reading a magazine in Integra's private room in the hospital. Her master had not yet awakened, and the doctors didn't know when she would. She had taken some pretty hard hits to the head and had numerous other injuries from the wreck.

Every once in a while, an image would penetrate the blackness of Integra's mind— a black-haired man in a dark suit and sometimes, he even wore a red overcoat.

Slowly, Alucard opened his eyes. Where was he, and why did he feel so tired? As his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized that a man stood over him. This man wore a cross around his neck and a concerned look on his face. As Alucard processed his surroundings, he realized that he was in a church of some sort. "Where am I?" he asked, voice sounding rusty from disuse.

"St. Christopher Church," said the Vicar, a man in his mid-forties by the name of Samuel Hartwell. It was an understatement to say that the Vicar was startled when he found an unconscious twenty-something man dressed in clothing from times long passed sprawled on the floor of the church sanctuary in front of the cross. He wondered for a moment how the man had gotten in; the doors had been locked and no one had set foot in the building since he locked up the night before. However, Samuel was more concerned with the state of the man than how he had gotten in. "Are you alright, Mr…?"

Alucard ignored the Vicar's question, a more urgent matter coming to his mind. "What year is it?" When he had been transported to that nowhere land, it had been 1999. How long had he been there?

Samuel was confused by Alucard's question, but answered anyway. "It is 2005, sir. Sir, are you alright?"

Alucard closed his eyes and became still as he processed this new information. He had been gone six years. What had happened during those years? What of Integra, what of Seras? What had happened to them? He couldn't feel his connections with either of them. They had disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Surprise, surprise. I actually updated this story.

I should be working on an art project, but I felt compelled to write instead. Yay for procrastination?

In any case... enjoy!

[Insert "I don't own..." disclaimer here.]

* * *

With some help from the vicar, Alucard was able to get set up to live a relatively normal human life. When Alucard had asked why and how the vicar was helping him, his only replies were "It is the will of God," and "The church has its ways," respectively. These statements left Alucard mystified, but he made no comment.

Alucard was the owner of a small apartment on the outskirts of London and paid his rent by working at a history museum. On his days off, he would visit one of the larger hospitals in London.

After a bit of research and reading week- and month-old newspapers, he managed to find out that Integra had been in an accident and was in a coma. With a bit more digging, he was able to find out the name of the hospital. All it took from there was a bit of hanging around at the nurse's stations to find out her room number. He wanted to visit, but not alert anyone to his presence; besides, he didn't think that the nurses would let any unauthorized personnel into Integra's room, and as he was he was most definitely unauthorized and unknown. He memorized the timing of the nurse's visits to her room, to know when to come and when to go without being seen. Sera's visits, too, were predictable, and he knew exactly when to avoid those as well.

On his visits, he would mostly talk to her unresponsive form. Sometimes he would argue with her, though he knew she would not respond. Other times, he would just watch her. Rarely would he reach out and touch her, a sad look in his eyes. During one such visit, he was alerted to someone approaching by the sound of bootsteps nearing.

Not wanting to be discovered and knowing exactly which of Integra's routine visitors would wear boots, Alucard scrambled for the door, flinging himself out of it and down the hall.

"Hey! Stop!" called Seras, setting off after the intruder at a run.

Knowing he would be unable to outrun Seras, Alucard skidded around a corner and threw himself into the nearest janitor's closet just before Seras rounded the same corner. He held his breath as he sat among dirty brooms and mops, listening to Seras move around just outside of the closet.

"Master?" she inquired to the air tentatively, before sighing and heading back to Integra's room. She thought herself delusional; that man couldn't have been Alucard – he had disappeared over six years ago and left no signs of coming back. Though, she admitted to herself, the man did bear a striking resemblance to her master, at least from the back.

When he was sure she was gone, Alucard stood and brushed himself off before exiting the closet and leaving the hospital. On his next visits, he was sure to be much more careful.

A few months later, Integra began to show signs of finally awakening. The first sign presented itself when Alucard was there on one of his visits. This one, unlike the others, was not carefully planned in advance. It could be considered a miracle that the nurses were occupied on another hallway and Seras was not present.

He was in one of those rare moods where he would actually reach out and touch his comatose former master. He touched her hand, tracing her fingers with his own. Alucard nearly jumped out of his skin when her fingers began to slowly close around his. He immediately recoiled from her touch and fled the room, afraid that she would awaken and see him or hospital staff would come running.

From that day on, Alucard no longer visited the hospital. If she had awakened, she would no longer be there. For almost a year, he lived a normal human life, pushing stray thoughts of his old life away. He was a different person now. He was no longer the nosferatu Alucard – he was Vlad D. Harker, human tour guide at the history museum. He aspired to live a normal life. With the end of his visits to Integra, he severed all ties with Hellsing… or so he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Bet you all didn't expect another update so quickly, ne? I started writing during class instead of taking notes... the things I do for my readers, lol. (Actually, I already knew the material we were covering, so I was bored.)

[Insert "I don't own..." disclaimer here.]

Enjoy!

* * *

Integra fully awoke only hours after Alucard had left. Multiple wires and tubes were removed from her person as she was swarmed by doctors poking and prodding her. Integra did not like this one bit, and grew more annoyed by the minute.

"Enough!" she finally barked out hoarsely, causing the doctors to step what they were doing and back away a bit. "You," she said, motioning to Seras, who had appeared in the room only seconds after Alucard had made his escape, "you look like you can give me answers. Who am I and why am I here?"

It took a moment for Seras to react, shaken as she was by Integra's apparent memory loss. "You are Sir Integra Hellsing. Six months ago, you were in a car crash," she managed.

"Very well," said Integra. "You may continue what you were doing," she added tiredly to the doctors,and they did so with much murmuring amongst themselves. After a while, Integra fell asleep and one of the doctors pulled Seras outside to discuss Integra's 'condition'. Integra was to be allowed to remember on her own time, however long it took. Neither Seras nor any of the other workers at Hellsing were to try to remind her of times passed. The doctors were certain that she would remember, even if it took a while.

After two months more in the hospital, Integra was allowed to go home. She had been told by doctors her basic background; only the bare essentials and nothing more.

Integra was mildly surprised when Seras pulled up to the Hellsing mansion. "I really live here?" she asked, somewhat astounded by the sheer size of her home.

"Yes," said Seras. After she parked the car, she helped Integra out of the car and gave her a short tour of the mansion, finally stopping at Integra's room. "This is your room," she said, gesuturing to the room and its sparse furnishings. "There's a bathroom through that door," she said, pointing to a door opposite the one they stood in.

"Thank you Seras," said Integra. "You may go; I think I'd like a bath now."

With a nod, Seras left, leaving Integra in an unfamiliar room and alone with her confused thoughts. Sighing, Integra ventured into the bathroom and ran a hot bath full of bubbles. As she sat soaking among the foam, her thoughts drifted to the fragmented images she remembered from her comatose state. The most prominent image was of a dark-haired man. Integra made a mental note to ask Seras about him later.

In the mean time, she intended to take full advantage of the hot bath. Hospital showers were terrible. After ensuring that every inch of her was squeaky clean and poking at a few scars she vaguely wondered show she had gotten – the only one she was told even a bit of history behind was her missing eye that she had lost in the London War six years ago – she began to play with the foam, sculpting things out of it until it disappeared and her bath grew cold.

Stepping out and wrapping herself in a fuzzy bath robe, she went to her room and began to poke around in her wardrobe. Apparently, she was fond of suits. Shrugging, she pulled one on and wandered down to the kitchen in the hopes of finding something to eat. When she got there, Seras was microwaving a blood packet.

Among the things she was told, she was told what Seras was. Integra accepted this more easily than one would have thought. Therefore, Integra was not bothered by the sight of Seras prodding the red packet to see if it was warm enough. "Seras," began Integra casually as she searched through the refrigerator, "Was there ever a tall, dark-haired man here?"

Seras almost choked on the blood she was in the process of sucking down. "Well," she said, after a bit of coughing, "yes. He was one of my kind, a vampire. Why do you ask?"

"Was he my lover?" asked Integra bluntly. It was the only reason she could think of that would cause him to be so prominent in her badly fragmented memories.

That time, Seras really did choke on her blood and was unable to speak while she coughed it up into the sink. "S- Sir Integra!" she exclaimed once she had regained her powers of speech. "No!"

"Oh," said Integra as she pulled sandwich fixings out of the fridge. "I remember him, sort of. I saw him often in my dreams while I was in the hospital."

"I see," said Seras thoughtfully as she retrieved another blood packet. Her mind was on the time she thought she saw Alucard at the hospital – was it possible that he was back?


	4. Chapter 4

Another chapter written during my Bible class for you all. Can you tell I get bored in there yet?

[Insert "I don't own..." disclaimer here.]

Enjoy!

* * *

"Seras," said Integra one day as she sat down at the table for breakfast. "Tonight at sunset, I want to do something. I've been out of the hospital for eight months and I haven't really left the estate."

"Very well, Sir Integra," said Seras, who was at the table sipping her dinner out of a mug. "What would you like to do?"

Integra thought for a moment. "I want to go to a museum. I don't care which one; I just want to go somewhere that isn't here."

"Alright," said Seras as she stood and put her mug in the sink. "I'll see you at sunset at the car, then."

By the time the sun had set, Integra had changed into something more suitable for an outing than one of her suits. Because it was early fall, she was dressed in a white sweater and black slacks.

Seras was also dressed for an outing. Instead of her Hellsing uniform, she had chosen a gray skirt and a pink button-down shirt. Just as the sun set, she met Integra at the car, her breakfast in hand.

For their outing, Seras had chosen a history museum in London.

Meanwhile, Alucard stood lounging at the museum's front desk, idly chatting with the greeter. He was in his work uniform, a pair of dark gray slacks and a navy blue polo complete with nametag clipped above the museum name stitched onto the breast of his shirt. His hair, which had been fairly long when he had returned to the land of the living, was even longer now. It reached all the way to his lower back.

As he was chatting with the greeter, he failed to notice when two women walked in. At least, he didn't notice until one of them spoke up in a familiar voice.

"Hello," said Seras cheerfully. "We'd like to take a tour of the museum."

At the sound of Seras's voice, Alucard went pale. This was a most unexpected coincidence, that his former fledgling and master would take a trip to his workplace.

"Vlad," said the greeter as she poked the arm of a shocked Alucard, "since you're already here, you might as well be their guide."

"Right," said Alucard, snapping back to reality. "My name is Vlad Harker, and I will be your guide through the museum."

When Integra got a good look at their guide's face, she couldn't help but stare. There was something familiar about him. With a glance at Seras, she could tell that Seras saw the same.

Seras herself was very confused. This man, this tour guide, looked very similar to her master, but she could hear his heart beat. If he had a heart beat, then he couldn't be Alucard.

In any case, the two women were led around the museum, their somewhat skittish guide telling them about the exhibits.

Almost halfway through the tour, a scream echoed through the almost-empty museum. All three of them – Seras, Integra, and Alucard froze in their tracks.

"What was that?" asked Integra, completely lost as to what was going on.

"Something very bad," said Seras as she assessed their position. She was the only one in their group who would be able to take on whatever had entered the museum – and by the smell of it, it was at least two vampires.

They didn't have to wait long before their foes showed themselves. Two vampires, one male and one female; both were sporting a fair amount of blood on their already-grimy clothing. It appeared that they had already fed on whichever poor soul had screamed.

As she emitted a low hiss, Seras's left arm dissolved into shadow matter and she placed herself between the enemy vampires and the two humans.

Alucard tapped her shoulder.

"Yes?" she asked, not turning to him, but keeping her eyes on the two vampires.

Alucard had, between the vampires appearing and Seras's arm dissolving sneaked a look upward to check for any other assailants. He had spotted one more vampire clinging to the rafters of the building and told Seras this.

Seras was unsure of how to handle this on her own and she didn't have time to think of a way before all hell broke loose.

All at once, the two vampires rushed Seras while the third dropped from the ceiling, aiming straight for Alucard and Integra.

Alucard pulled Integra out of the way and, leaving Seras to deal with the vampires, took Integra to someplace he hoped they would be safe.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Integra was very confused and followed Alucard with little protest, even as they ran through a maze of hallways and service doors.

Eventually, they wound up in a supply room, hiding behind a shelf.

"Do you think we'll be safe here?" whispered Integra.

"I don't know," replied Alucard. "I'm hoping."

"By the way, do I know you?" she asked.

"I don't think so," said Alucard hastily as he heard something that sounded a lot like footsteps. "Quiet."

Seconds later, one of the vampires entered – and he was dragging a particularly gruesome sight, a mutilated security guard who left a bloody trail as his body was dragged.

"Come out little Hellsing," purred the vampire as he walked into the supply room. With a grunt, he tossed the body of the guard and it landed with a thud just outside the shelf behind which Alucard and Integra hid. "I want to play."

He waited a few moments and was only met with dead silence. "I know you're here, Hellsing. You've got a little boyfriend, too." Still no reply came. "Come," he snarled, "out." With that, he shoved the first shelf in the row and watched as they came crashing down.

As soon as Alucard heard the shelves crash together, he shoved Integra to the ground. He soon followed, knocked onto all fours by the shelf.

"You alright?" he grunted.

"F-fine," stammered Integra from her place pinned beneath him.

"That's go—" Alucard was cut off as a loud screech sounded from the back of the room, behind the last shelf to fall. He watched as a black cat shot out and streaked across the room, pausing only to sniff at the dead guard and continuing its flight from the room. When it paused to sniff the guard, it loosened the strap that held his gun in its holster and with the cat's paws scrabbling against the gun as it started to run again, the gun spun across the floor and landed just next to Alucard's hand.

On its way out, the cat took a moment to hiss at and bite the vampire, causing the vampire to make an attempt at catching it. Luckily for the cat, it was too quick for even the vampire.

Meanwhile, Alucard managed to close his hand around the barrel of the gun and set it next to Integra. "I can't shoot," he said, gesturing with his head at the shelving unit he was holding up before looking her straight in the eye. "You're going to have to do it. Shoot between the shelves and aim for the heart or the head. I know you can do it."

Integra took the gun. Why did this feel so familiar?


End file.
